Legal capacities required for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases

Law lies at the centre of successful national strategies for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. By law we mean international agreements, national and subnational legislation, regulations and other executive instruments, and decisions of courts and tribunals. However, the vital role of law in global health development is often poorly understood, and eclipsed by other disciplines such as medicine, public health and economics. This paper identifies key areas of intersection between law and noncommunicable diseases, beginning with the role of law as a tool for implementing policies for prevention and control of leading risk factors. We identify actions that the World Health Organization and its partners could take to mobilize the legal workforce, strengthen legal capacity and support effective use of law at the national level. Legal and regulatory actions must move to the centre of national noncommunicable disease action plans. This requires high-level leadership from global and national leaders, enacting evidence-based legislation and building legal capacities

Design, synthesis, antitumor activity and molecular docking study of novel 5-deazaalloxazine analogs

open access articleProtein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) are the most potential therapeutic targets for cancer. Herein, we present a sound rationale for synthesis of a series of novel 2-(methylthio), 2-(substituted alkylamino), 2-(heterocyclic substituted), 2-amino, 2,4-dioxo and 2-deoxo-5-deazaalloxazine derivatives by applying structure-based drug design (SBDD) using AutoDock 4.2. Their antitumor activities against human CCRF-HSB-2, KB, MCF-7 and HeLa have been investigated in vitro. Many 5-deazaalloxazine analogs revealed high selective activities against MCF-7 tumor cell lines (IC50: 0.17–2.17 µM) over HeLa tumor cell lines (IC50 > 100 µM). Protein kinase profiling revealed that compound 3h induced multi- targets kinase inhibition including −43% against (FAK), −40% against (CDKI) and −36% against (SCR). Moreover, the Annexin-V/PI apoptotic assay elucidate that compound 3h showed 33% and potentially 140% increase in early and late apoptosis to MCF-7 cells respectively, compared to the control. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) and molecular docking study using PTK as a target enzyme for the synthesized 7-deazaalloaxazine derivatives were investigated as potential antitumor agents. The AutoDock binding affinities of the 5deazaalloxazine analogs into c-kit PTK (PDB code: 1t46) revealed reasonable correlations between their AutoDock binding free energy and IC50

Treatment of Yarn Dyeing Wastewater Using Different Coagulants Followed by Activated Carbon Adsorption

Yarn dyeing industry consumes large volumes of water and chemicals for wet processing of yarn. The chemical reagents used are very diverse in chemical composition, ranging from inorganic and organic compounds to polymers. The major environmental problem of colorant manufacturing is the removal of dyes from effluents. In this study, the potential of using different coagulants such as alum, ferric chloride, and magnesium chloride were investigated for the treatment of dying wastewater. Alum, magnesium chloride and ferric chloride were tested. Lime, cationic and anionic polymers were used as a coagulant aid. To achieve better performance post treatment using granule activated carbon (GAC) was applied as an adsorbent. The use of 500 mg/l alum aided with 400 mg/l lime and 0.35 mg/l cationic polymer achieved the highest removal rate followed by magnesium chloride then ferric chloride. The removal rates of COD, TSS, and turbidity were 69.5 %, 70.7 %and 96.9 %, Post treatment using GAC enhanced the color and COD removals. Their removal rates reached 94.6% and 77.5%, respectively

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of some fluoroquinolone antibiotics in bulk and pharmaceutical preparations

A simple and sensitive kinetic spectrophotometric method was developed for the determination of some fluoroquinolonea antibiotics; gemifloxacin mesylate, moxifloxacin hydrochloride and gatifloxacin in bulk and in pharmaceutical preparations. The method is based upon a kinetic investigation of the oxidation reaction of the drugs with alkaline potassium permanganate at room temperature for a fixed time of 20 min for gemifloxacin and 15 min for moxifloxacin or gatifloxacin. The absorbance of the coloured manganate ion was measured at 610 nm. The absorbance–concentration plots were rectilinear over the ranges of 2.0-20, 4.0-24 and 4.0-40 µg mL−1 for gemifloxacin, moxifloxacin and gatifloxacin, respectively. The concentrations of the studied drugs were calculated using the corresponding calibration equations for the fixed-time method. The determination of the studied drugs by the fixed concentration and rate constant methods was also feasible with the calibration equations obtained but the fixed time method has been found to be more applicable. The different experimental parameters affecting the development and stability of the colors were carefully studied and optimized. The proposed method was applied to the determination of the studied drugs in pharmaceutical formulations.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v27i3.